Wednesday, November 29, 2006

DearTERRY,I love my iPod. Since I got the 80GB video model, I have been able to put a lot of my "grandma's brag book" pictures on it in addition to CDs of music I've collected over the years, and of course, some of my favorite genealogy podcasts. I did download the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN to watch when I fly to Vegas for my oldest daughter's wedding the 16th of December. Actually I'll fly down on the 15th, the wedding is the 16th, but I digress...

Ol' Myrt has done a lot of research and has made the following additional purchases:

-- iHome (model iH5B) - a clock radio docking/recharging station with AM/FM tuner & alarm. Yesterday I woke up to the Family History Minute podcast instead of a buzzing alarm clock. The time is set automatically, once you tell iHome which time zone you live in. There is a battery backup. The only thing I don't like about it is that there are only 3 settings for the digital readout for the time (high beam, low beam and off). The low beam is still too bright for overnight in my opinion. The speakers are adequate for playback of anything on my iPod so I can walk around the room, work on my computer, etc. Alternately I can hook the iHome into my home stereo system, to take advantage of the speakers. This would only apply to those classicalmusic CDs I loaded. For the talk-radio format of the typical genealogy podcasts, the speakers on the iHome are more than adequate. I purchased mine from Radio Shack on sale for $99. The website lists it at $199, so I thought this was great.

-- iCarPlay Wireless Plus - (Model A IP FM-CH PS by Monster) to play wirelessly through an unused FM position on my car radio while also charging the iPod. This purchase took a lot of experimenting and thought. From everything I've read on the web, the major complaint with this sort of connection to your car stereo system is that there will be static. The cassette tape versions were even worse. On my system, if you turn the volume WAY up, you will find static. However, of the three models I purchased and installed, this one had the least. I purchased mine at Radio Shack for $69, though the website lists it now for $79.99.

-- Tough Skin (model S50-BLACK-TS by Speck products) a black rubberized plastic case and clear plastic overlay for the video screen on my iPod to use when I am out and about for an extended period of time (like the trip to Vegas). This takes a little effort to place this on the iPod, and has to be removed to place the iPod in the iHome, but works fine with the iCarPlayWireless Plus.

-- Socks for iPod - something to quickly put over the iPod, when on a short trip away from home, when I don't feel like going to the effort of putting the Tough Skin in place.